It's a fairly well known phenomenon. There is a book called "Poorly Made In China" about it, and the term for it is "Quality Fade". The concept is that after

It's a fairly well known phenomenon. There is a book called "Poorly Made In China" about it, and the term for it is "Quality Fade". The concept is that after winning the contract (sometimes at a price below their own costs, in order to beat competing manufacturers), the Chinese manufacturer increases their profit margin by "optimizing" the product design - using cheaper components or omitting parts without the knowledge of the buyer, until the products are rejected. Here's an article I found from a random search on "Quality Fade" [1]. For a counter-viewpoint, the China Law Blog [2] argues it isn't Quality Fade if customers still buy the products. It was written in response to a recall of 23,000 Chinese-made cars in Australia after they were found to have asbestos in their engine gaskets. Great Wall Motor had argued that "their own in-house testing [had] concluded that the asbestos was not a danger to human bodies" [3]. [1] https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/sourcing/apparel-production-quality-fade-124208/ https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/sourcing/apparel-producti... [2] https://www.chinalawblog.com/2014/03/chinas-quality-fade-is-there-really-such-a-thing-and-so-what-if-there-is.html https://www.chinalawblog.com/2014/03/chinas-quality-fade-is-... [3] https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/08/17/chinese-asbestos-in-australia-blame-quality-fade/ https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/08/17/chinese-asbes...